


Start of Something New

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Marauders' Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-09
Updated: 2008-01-09
Packaged: 2019-01-19 13:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12410787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: The day Lily realizes her friendship with Severus Snape is really and truly over is also the day she finds out that Remus Lupin is a werewolf.





	Start of Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Author's note:** This is a little diddy that takes place sometime near the end of Lily's sixth year. It's a bit of an exploration of the end of her friendship with Snape and an elaboration on their cutting ties with each other at the end of their fifth year. It's unbetaed, so there may be some typos, but it's been stuck in my head for so long that I had to finally give in and spit _something_ out.

&&&

The day Lily realizes her friendship with Severus Snape is really and truly over is also the day she finds out that Remus Lupin is a werewolf.

She is on her way up from the dungeons -- she'd just finished a rather long and fruitless tutoring session with a third year Hufflepuff -- when she stumbles upon them: Remus Lupin, James Potter, and Severus Snape, all three glowering, all three looking fit to kill, and all three with wands raised and at the ready.

Just her luck, she thinks darkly, adjusting the strap of her bag and creeping forward with caution. It just isn't a day at Hogwarts unless Lily Evans has some manner of confrontation with James Potter and his inescapable lackeys.

And then, of course, there's Sev....

Lily hasn't spoken to Severus in almost a year, but the bleeding heart in her is always wont to take the side of the underdog-- and as it has always been (and would probably always be), the underdog in this situation is clearly Severus. Instinctively, traitorously, she feels her heart contract in a painfully familiar way at the sight of him. His greasy hair, his ill-fitting robes, his pale, pinched, thoroughly unhappy face... it is familiar in a way that tears Lily up inside, though she can never rationalize exactly why. He's brought it on himself, she knows, his exile from civilized society, but there is something in his demeanor -- so aggressive, defiant, and yet so achingly vulnerable -- that never fails to weaken Lily's (already admittedly weak) resolve to hate him.

She slips her own wand out of her bag, narrows her eyes with purpose, and clears her throat. "And just what the hell is going on here? Potter? Lupin? Are you threatening another student?"

James is the one to answer, though he does so without ever tearing his eyes away from Severus. "In case you haven't noticed, Evans, we're not the only ones with our wands raised. Why don't you try asking Tall, Dark, and Slimy what this is all about? I'm sure he'd love to share."

His grip on his wand is tight, and Lily feels a chill snake down her spine at the barely suppressed rage evident in his voice. She has never heard him sound so angry before, so incensed, so... full of purpose. Yes, that's what it is; he is usually so glib and mocking. Lily had begun to think James Potter didn't have a care in the world. It's unsettling, this new intensity, and for reasons she can't possibly explain, her heart skips a beat and the hand holding her wand begins to tremble.

She eyes the three boys warily. They haven't moved an inch.

"Severus?" Her voice falters; she can't meet his eyes. "What's going on here?"

"I was merely questioning Potter's choice of companionship. It's not safe for him, trolling about unattended with that _thing_ he calls a friend _._ I was concerned for him, of course." Severus offers Lily a mockery of a smile, a simple, sarcastic quirking of his lips, and Lily wonders if his voice has always been full of such malice-- if maybe she's just never been able to hear it before now.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Remus' arm jerk wildly -- the first movement any of them have made -- and she feels her heart begin to sink. It is a strange, slow-motion sort of sinking, the sort that is inevitably followed by overwhelming waves of dread. She doesn't know what Severus is about to say, but she is almost certain that she doesn't want to hear it. And she is  _more_ than certain that -- whatever she has managed to stumble across -- she is in way over her head.

She should turn around now, the rational part of her brain chides her. Spare herself. Retain whatever innocence she has left.

But even as she thinks this, she can feel her mouth opening of its own volition, hear herself asking, "What are you talking about, Sev? What _thing_?"

James takes a step forward, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and shifting his gaze from Severus, to Lily, to Remus, and back to Sev again. "Remember what Dumbledore said, Snape. You made a promise. Your ass is on the line now, too."

"A promise to a fool is as good as no promise at all," Severus snaps. "If the general populous knew what he was harboring here, he'd be fired in a heart beat anyway. Besides," he continues with a derisive laugh, "Lily's a smart girl. She's probably already figured it out, right, Lils?"

Lily shakes her head dumbly and feels herself shiver as -- sure enough -- those waves of dread she'd been expecting begin to rock her body. She glances first at James, who is looking as thunderous and intimidating as ever, and then at Remus, who, in direct contrast, has lowered his wand arm and is shaking his head at Severus, his face twisted in an expression of defeat, resignation, and disgust.

Lily is almost certain she sees a bit of pleading mixed in there somewhere, too.

"Surely you must know," Severus prods, his mouth widening into the first real smile Lily has seen from him in over a year. _He's enjoying this_ , she realizes with distaste. _Whatever_ this _is, he's enjoying it_. "Lupin's a monster, Lily. He's not human."

Though she is aware her mind is trying desperately to communicate something of import to her, Lily continues to stare blankly, and Severus takes a step forward, an expression of such acute triumph on his face that Lily is genuinely frightened. "Come _on,_ Lily.He's a _were_ \--"

It is at this precise moment that several things begin to happen at once.

Remus -- kind, passive Remus Lupin -- launches himself bodily at Severus, slamming him with such force into the stone wall of the corridor that Lily is afraid Sev's skull might crack; James shoots a well-aimed disarming spell at Severus (only just missing a barreling Remus) and watches dispassionately as Severus' wand soars out of his grasp and clatters unceremoniously to the floor at James' feet; and Lily, for no reason she can ascertain, lurches forward on unsteady feet, points her wand at Severus, and shouts "silencio" so loudly that her ears ring for a moment from the combined echo of her and James' simultaneous spells.

The chaos ends as suddenly as it began.

Remus releases Sev, who has gone red with the effort of soundlessly screaming (obscenities, Lily is sure), and instead raises his wand again, his face once more his trademark mask of impassive stoicism.

He hasn't spoken a word the entire exchange.

James kicks Severus' wand down the corridor and shifts his weight from foot to foot again.

And Snape, perhaps finally realizing that it is three on one -- not two on two, as he must have been hoping -- turns his gaze to Lily, eyes blazing with an emotion that she -- for once -- can't define. He opens his mouth as though to speak, closes it quickly, and walks abruptly away, robes billowing as he turns a corner.

Lily, for her part, hasn't moved a muscle. She cannot say a word. She can't call out to Severus, can't stop him from leaving, can't tell him how sorry she is, can't promise him that she would never hurt him on purpose. She can't even lower her wand. She can feel the blood rushing to her head and the air rushing out of her lungs, and for one horrible, embarrassing moment, she's afraid she might actually pass out.

It doesn't matter that Remus is a werewolf. It makes perfect sense, after all, a part of her mind keeps yammering -- answers years of questions -- and she knows that once she is able to give this revelation its due, she will feel quite dull that she hadn't figured it out sooner.

But none of that matters right now. All that matters is that Severus just turned that corner, and it's _over_. It was really over, and Lily's mind can't seem to grasp this. She remembers the playground. She remembers sticky hands and secrets and childish laughter. She remembers praying every night that she'd be sorted into Slytherin. She remembers slapping Petunia for calling him names and making fun of his clothing. She remembers secret hand-shakes and staying out past sunset. She remembers when she was his staunchest defender and not just one in a sea of tormentors.

She knows, somewhere in the part of her brain that is still capable of thought, that she will not remember this as the day she found out that Remus Lupin was a werewolf.

Out of respect for Severus, it can only be the day that she lost the first friend she'd made in the magical community. The friend who'd shown her who she was, what she was capable of.

It will always be the day she aligned herself -- however unwittingly -- with Snape's most hated foe.

It will always be the day she realized -- finally, _finally_ realized _\--_ that Sev's prejudices went beyond blood, beyond house colors.

It will always be the day she realized that she couldn't save him, she couldn't fix him, that Avery and Mulciber weren't just a phase, that she couldn't keep making excuses for his increasingly malicious actions.

It will always be the day she realized that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't the keen judge of character she'd always assumed herself to be.

Her eyes meet James'.

She lowers her wand.

It is the start of something new.


End file.
